1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to storage systems and more specifically relates to carriers for adapting a storage device of a first size to a slot for a storage device of a second size.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Storage systems may be used to house a large number of storage devices (e.g., magnetic disks, optical drives, solid-state memory, etc.) and communicatively couple those storage devices with a computer system. Storage systems may comprise, for example, rack-mounted blades or other high density enclosures that each comprise multiple storage devices. Each blade may be stored within the rack, and may be communicatively coupled with the computer system by use of a suitable backplane or cabling structure (e.g., a cable chain). The blade itself may be opened to access the storage devices that it houses, and each storage device may be communicatively coupled with the blade via a hardware connection residing, for example, on a printed circuit board of the blade. To restrain the motion of each storage device within the blade, the blade will typically include slots that are sized for a specific type of drive. For example, it has been generally popular for blades to include slots for standard 3.5 inch form factor hard disks (i.e., the slots are sized to house devices with dimensions according to the 3.5 inch standard defined by the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA)).
As technology has progressed, it has become desirable for storage systems to utilize smaller standard 2.5 inch form factor hard disks (i.e., the slots are sized to house devices with dimensions according to the 2.5 inch standard defined by the EIA). In addition to allowing a higher density of drives for a blade, 2.5 inch form factor storage devices typically exhibit more desirable characteristics such as faster spindle speeds (and therefore faster rates for accessing and retrieving data stored on the device). Unfortunately, these devices may not be used in conjunction with existing high density enclosures that have been dimensioned for 3.5 inch form factor drives unless they are adapted in some manner to fit into existing slots. Numerous carriers and adapters are known, but it remains cumbersome to screw 2.5 inch form factor drives into 3.5 inch form factor carriers.
As a further consideration, in storage environments, a field engineer may manage hundreds, if not thousands of storage devices on a daily basis. This may involve swapping storage devices between enclosures, removing storage devices, adding storage devices, cleaning or dusting enclosures, and other routine tasks. To this end, a field engineer desires hardware that simplifies the use of the carriers described above during routine maintenance on the storage system.
Thus it is an ongoing challenge to adapt standard 2.5 inch form factor drives to enclosures having slots dimensioned for a standard 3.5 inch form factor in a manner that is cost-efficient, simple, and easy to use.